Bogdan, Van Deventer Earn All-Academic Honors from USTFCCCA

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Two NCAA Regional qualifiers from the Yale men's track and field team, Matt Bogdan '11 and John Van Deventer '11, have been named to the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Track & Field team for their work in the classroom. The USTFCCCA made the announcement Wednesday.

Bogdan was a two-time NCAA Regional qualifier in the steeplechase, including this past season. He also was a two-time scorer at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships. This past season he earned All-East honors by anchoringYale's distance medley relay team at indoor IC4As, setting the No. 10 all-time Yale indoor record (9:54.4). The Latham, N.Y., native had a PR of 8:58.09 in the steeplechase, ranking No. 8 on Yale's all-time list in the event. In cross country, he was Yale's No. 2 runner at the NCAA Regional in 2009.

Van Deventer advanced to the regional finals in the 1,500-meter run, an event in which he ran the second-fastest time in school history (3:43.34) earlier in the season. He was also third in that event at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships. Indoors, he anchored the distance medley relay at indoor Heps, earning All-Ivy League honors with a second-place finish and the seventh-fastest time on Yale's indoor all-time list.

After persevering through three injury-plagued seasons, Van Deventer's Yale career ended on a high note with his NCAA Regional appearance and a return to his home country of England (he is from Surrey) for the traditional Yale-Harvard vs. Oxford-Cambridge meet this past June. He also received Yale's Gardner Millett Memorial Award, presented to an "outstanding member of the Men's Track and Field Team who excels in Sportsmanship, Courage and Inspiration."

To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track and Field Team, the student-athlete must have compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and have met either of the following athletic standards: for the indoor season, a student-athlete must have finished the regular season ranked in the national top 96 in an individual event or ranked in the national top 48 (collective listing) in a relay event on the official NCAA POP list provided by TFRRS.org; for the outdoor season, a student-athlete must have participated in any round of the NCAA Division I Championships (including preliminary rounds).

The women's All-Academic individual honorees will be named tomorrow. Those institutions given All-Academic Team status will be named on Aug. 10 (men) and Aug. 11 (women).